Follow Through
by DySolo
Summary: L/R DB Series. Number 12a. A day in the life of Lila during her trip to Vancouver. No spoilers, I think.


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Title: Follow Through  
Pairing: Just Lila  
Rating: K  
Author's Notes: Part of the Deal Breaker 'world' if you will, following the last piece, check mate. I don't think it's a necessary part of it, but I felt like writing her world, giving her some more depth, I guess. Really, I just wanted to write something and this is what came out. if you haven't, check out "Bombshells" it's about Morgan and the explosive moments of his life, I have fun writing it. Also, there's a community now that houses all of the Deal Breaker stories, so you should subscribe to that, if you want.  
**Summary: Just a day in Vancouver for Lila.**

* * *

She sits at the piano that's in the hotel. She's not known for her musical skills. Acting is her first love, her main thing, but she knows a little something about all of the fine arts. She can write poetry and short prose that makes no sense but feels nice - well, that's what her dad says about it. She can't sing, she learned that very quickly, while trying to try out for a high school play of Rent - she wanted to be Mimi, but didn't have the vocal chops, but the piano she learned easily. Her mother had put her in lessons after the incident with her uncle. Piano on Tuesdays, therapy on Thursday. She didn't mind, though. She liked the cool ivory under her fingertips. It wasn't like acting - she wasn't driven to play the piano, but after a long day she could sit on the bench, put her fingers on the while keys and breath. Let it out into music compositions that explained her day. She still listens to classical music during a first read of a script, it's calming and the music helps the emotions on the paper come alive.

She runs her fingers over the keys. She knows Dante is watching her. The whole lobby is watching her. She doesn't really understand why. She's not that famous in Canada, but the papers have mentioned that a movie was filming in the area, so she guesses they must assume she's a part of it. She's almost afraid to play, with all their eyes on her, but she blocks them out and just closes her eyes and starts to play the first thing that pops into her head: the instrumental to "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera. It's the only piece that she remembers enough to play from memory. She had done it for a recital when she was 16. Her mother had made her play it every time she visited her, always a fan of musical theatre rather than screen acting. It's not perfect, the phrases don't sound completely right and she misses a note here and there, but it's not bad. When she finishes, a few people clap and she blushes before standing up. Dante smirks at her as he escorts her to the elevator, but he doesn't speak about it at all, just informs her that Pinky will be stopping by later. She's in town with her girlfriend, he says and Lila nods. It'll be nice to see the woman again. It's been a while since they've seen each other. They've only hung out a few times since the incident with Maggie and she hadn't seen Parker at all. She should call him, but he went to school with Spencer and she just doesn't want to deal with that right now.

She watches as Dante moves around the suite easily and hands her a cup of tea a few moments later. He sits next, putting his feet up on a table that probably costs more than all of his furniture combined and turns on the TV, watching something Lila's not interested in. She concentrates on her script and tea instead. They'd been working on the film for a week now and she was enjoying it. She liked the city, the other actors. It was a good change from the TV show, from California. There's a knock and she looks up at Dante who stands to get the door. He grins with he sees the visitor.

"Lila."

She's already looking back at the script when the visitor speaks. She knows who it is, by their voice.

"Linda." She says. The two hadn't been getting along lately. Lila's decision to go help Spencer had really angered Linda and then leaving an audition for a phone call hadn't helped either. She didn't regret either and that seemed to piss Linda off anymore. The older woman didn't think she was serious about her career. Linda didn't know anything, anyways. Unlike Michael, Linda was in it for the money. Michael had cared about her, had loved her and she, him. She and Linda had never gotten along. Lila hadn't wanted to do anything about the stalking, Linda had pushed and when Lila had turned down the crime show spot, Linda had threatened to quit, but she hadn't. Losing her star would have been bad for business.

"I've set from some interviews for you. Someone from Vancouver Sun is going to come to set tomorrow and then on Friday, you've got a few phone interviews, to talk about how filming is going. There's a rumor going around that you're dating Mark."

Lila looks up at that. "I'm not."

Linda just nods. "Of course, Of course, but maybe you couldn't comment about it, you know to add a little drama to the filming, make people want to come see if they can see the chemistry."

Lila just stares and shrugs. She doesn't want to fight. She just flips a page in the script, highlighting and writing herself some notes for the scenes they plan on filming tomorrow.

"And don't mention that Spencer fellow. It's bad for your image."

Lila looks up at that, again, annoyed. "How is it bad for my image?"

"Oh you know. He's a nobody. You want to be associated with the big names."

Lila looks at the woman like she's insane. "He's not a nobody. He's a part of the FBI. He's a good guy."

"Yeah, yeah, saving the world and all that, I know, but you're a star, Lila. People want to see you with people like Mark or that Travis fellow. The one with the tattoos, you know?"

Even Dante makes a face at that. Travis was a guy from Lila's past. He was part of a band and was heavily into drugs. They had briefly dated before Lila realized how bad he was.

"Right." She drawls out. "I was thinking about heading back to Texas for the weekend actually. I don't have any scenes to film until that Wednesday and I thought I'd go visit my dad."

Linda makes a sour face, she obviously doesn't like the idea, before she checks her schedule. "Do you think you could make a stop in Dallas? D Magazine wanted to do a photo shoot and interview with you, but I told them you couldn't make it, but if you're going to be down there…." She trails off, looking at the woman.

Lila shrugs, she knows she has to agree for the woman to not complain about the trip. "Just send me the time and date. I'm sure Rachel would think it was pretty cool." She says of her little sister.

Linda nods, putting in her phone. "Right. I'll go set that up now."

She's gone as quick as she arrived and Lila sighs.

"How is Rachel?" Dante asks and she's grateful for someone on her team that actually seems to care.

"She's good. She graduates from Baylor next Spring."

"Speech Therapy, right?"

"Communication Science and Disorders." She corrects before smirking.

"So… Speech Therapy." Dante says again and she laughs.

"Yeah."

"An accountant, a speech therapist, and an actress. The Archer's are a random bunch." Dante teases.

"Patrick followed my step-dad's footsteps and Chel-"

"Rachel always loved watching you perform. I remember when they came out for your performance."

Lila smiles. "She told me that she wanted to help people be able to use words in the way I could."

"And then there's you."

"Eh. I'm the middle child, the one that lived with my crazy Dad, who pushed me to follow my dreams."

Dante laughs. "He's not crazy."

Lila raises an eyebrow. "You say that because you're a fellow artist."

Dante winks. "We artists stick together."


End file.
